The Oldest History of Olęder Settlements in the Nekla District, 1749-1793, by Zbigniew Chodyła Committee for Renovation of Oleder Cemeteries, Nekla 2005 The book has been published as part of the preparation for Nekla’s 600th Anniversary. The cover: A photocopied section of the agreement between the settlers of Nekla Olędry and Franciszek Odrowąż Wilkoński and Rev. Aleksym Błachowicz regarding payments to the Roman-catholic Parish in Nekla, made on 8 January 1753 at Nekla. From an original kept at State Archives in Poznan (Posen). Publisher: The Committee for Renovation of Oleder Cemeteries in Nekla The address: 62-330 Nekla, ul. Dworcowa 10; e-mail: [email protected] Edited and corrected by Jerzy Osypiuk 400 copies printed. Printing and binding: KROPKA Publishers, J.W. Sliwczynscy 62-300 Wrzesnia, ul Fromborska 18, [email protected] Graphic design: Przemysław Nowaczyk English Translation: Kazimierz Ken Jaworski 1 I N T R O D U C T I O N One of the most important types of rural settlements (based on land annuity) in Poland, 1527/1547-1864 was Olęder colonization, named after its pioneers – Hollanders, known in the old Polish language as ‘Olęders’, ‘Olenders’ or ‘Holęders’. This type of colonization (or settlement) has been determined neither by the ethnicity of the settlers, or the nature of the land, nor the way of its preparation (amelioration or clearing), but by the Hollander legal system (legislation) introduced by Hollanders and applied by their continuators, Germans and Poles, as well as by the manner of husbandry choosing land difficult for farming, bringing under cultivation one large piece of land and attaching great importance to animal husbandry. According to that legal system, the settlers called olęders, holęders (even if they no longer represented their Hollander nationality), were free landholders who were leasing the land on the conditions of emphyteusis (Latin, for a long term lease of land with the right of harvesting the crops, putting up buildings etc, but without owning the land or possibility of acquiring that right through usucaption) – at first a long term, and later on (especially in Great Poland) perpetual lease with the right of passing the farms on to their heirs or selling them with the landlord’s permission. After some time rent free in order to help the leaseholders with settling in and becoming productive, they only had to pay the lease (in money and in kind) and in some limited way (although not always) in labour. The settlers exercised limited freedom of how to use their land and as a whole community were responsible for fulfilling the conditions of the lease on time. They had their own hamlet self- government that was to make sure they met their obligations towards their landlord. They exercised limited judicial freedom by having their own hamlet court and only in some criminal and appeal matters had to appear before the landlord’s judicature. The settlers had to make regular payments to the Catholic Church as well as pay state taxes. They were free to trade and enjoyed freedom of religion and the right to establish their own schools that usually were their places of worship. The collective solidarity of the olęder hamlet towards the landlord, the equality of their rights, neighbourly support of each other within the hamlet and the appropriate structure and functions of their self-government were very distinct and characteristic of the olęder colonization that differed from other forms of colonization based on German legislation, such as ‘head of a hamlet’ colonization under which the settlers were given perpetual lease of the land individually and not as the olęders in result of collective agreements with the whole hamlet. (1) 2 According to the research available, in the years 1527/1547-1864 there were in the First Republic of Poland, and after 1795 in the Three Partitions, at least about 1700 olęder settlements of which at least 300 had ethnic Hollanders of Mennonite faith and their descendants who in part have become Lutheran. Most of those settlements (minimum about 925), were formed (established) in one of the few regions in which olęder colonization had developed – in the Great Poland itself. In the period of the old Polish history, 1547-1793, there were in the eight of nine counties that belonged to two (and from 1768 three) voivodeships (provinces): (Poznan, Kalisz and Gniezno) 725 olęder settlements in a larger sense, and among those at least 686 unquestionable. Those settlements, called in brief: “olęders”, were established on the different types of feudal land ownership: royal, municipal, ecclesiastical (both diocesan and monastic), and in particular nobiliary (of nobility). The settlements in the Great Poland region were inhabited by the immigrant population – the descendants of the Hollander settlers of Mennonite faith from the settlements in Gdansk Pomerania (about 0.8%), in majority (about 54%) by German Evangelical population (mainly Lutheran), and in a large percent (about 38%) by Catholic Polish population, and partly by population ethnically and confessionaly mixed (about 7.2%). (2) Among the settlements originally established and inhabited by the German protestant colonists, and then until 1945 by their descendants, who only to a very small degree had become assimilated, polonized and converted to Catholicism, were the former olęder hamlets established in 1749-1776 in Nekla district on the land that belonged to the nobility. They are listed here in alphabetical order: Barczyzny (formerly Old and New, forming one community), Brzezia (presently Brzeźna), between Siedleczko and Nekla, Gierałtowo, Góreckich Olędrów (presently within town boundaries), Lasek Olędrów (formerly Lasek Zasutowskich, presently parts of Gierłatowo), Mystkowskich Olędrów (presently a part of Barczyzny), Niekielskich Olędrów (presently Nekielki), Siedleckich or Zabrodzia Olędrów (presently Siedleczka) and Zasułtowa Olędrów (presently Zasutowa). Right from the time of being established in 1793, all those settlements (hamlets) were located in the old Polish district (county) of Pyzdry (within its boundaries before and after 1791 territorial changes), in the voivodeship of Kalisz bordering with the county of Gniezno, but three of them – Barszczyzna Old and New with Mystkowskich Olędry that belonged to the Czerniejewo estate in the county of Gniezno, were also listed in this county that was a part of Gniezno voivodeship formed at that time from some parts of the voivodeship of Kalisz. (3) At the present time they are found within the boundaries of seven localities: two (Brzeźno and 3 Siedleczek) are part of the community of Kostrzyn in the Poznan district, and five (Barczyzna, Gierałtowo, Nekla, Nekielka, Zasutowo) are part of the community of Nekla in the Września district, in the voivodeship of Great Poland. (4) Below there is an outline of the beginnings of their history from the time of the oldest location in 1749 and then the next ones (to 1776), until 1791, or nearly 1793, when in the result of the second partition of Poland, they found themselves, together with the rest of the Great Poland, under the Prussian rule. Because of a limited size of this publication we list here briefly the following topics: 1. Chronology, organization (names and social and economical standing of the founders, numbers, names, nationality, religion and origin of the colonizers and the settlers), type of land, living conditions and reasons for establishing settlements 2. The settlements’ size, lay-out, building structure, and population in 1789 according to gender, age, social and financial status, as well as profession 3. Legal and administrative state of the Olęder population 4. Economics and social life 5. Interdenominational relations, education and every day culture There are very few written materials available on the subject of the Olęder settlements. (5) The main sources of this publication are the documents from the archives such as settlements charters (or rather agreements) containing dates, reasons and conditions, internal structure of the settlements and the lease paid by the settlers to the manor (landlord), payments to the Church and the state, agreements between Olęder communities and Catholic parsons concerning their contributions, inventories and inspections , tables (lists) of houses, (podymnego?), *population, also of a donation (offering) of the 10th (20) groschen and the so called ‘piling up of grain’ (‘zsypka zbożowa’) in 1789 and 1791. There are some other texts that because of a limited space will not be discussed in detail. (6) However, because of the gaps in those sources, full ascertainments can be done only in relation to some parts of those settlements. At the end of this publication, in addition to the inferences drawn from the above mentioned characteristics, we will include some of the most important facts from the subsequent 150 years history of the Olęder settlements near Nekla between 1794 and 1945. Towards the end of World War II those settlements had been deserted by the 4 descendants of the original settlers and resettled by Polish people who were displaced from the eastern parts of the Second Republic of Poland. Those facts however refer only to XIX century. The wide scope of material and time factors of that one and half century long period require separate monographs. 1 CHRONOLOGY, ORGANIZATION, CONDITIONS AND REASONS FOR ESTABLISHING THE SETTLEMENTS The time of establishing the four out of ten Olęder settlements in the Nekla district can be determined from settlement charters; the time of the remaining ones can be determined approximately from the first references made by other sources (e.g. agreements with parish parsons, inspections, inventories, tax tables). According to those sources they had been established between 1749 and 1776 in the estates of the middle class gentry (that is the owners of a few villages) and by their initiative within the boundaries of three parishes: Siedlec (2), Nekla (6) i Opatówko (2). The three settlements to be established first (all the three in 1749) were Brzeźno (within the parish of Siedlec), Niekielskie Olędry and Góreckie Olędry (within the parish of Nekla) in the gentry’s estates belonging to three different owners.